The Pacific Maritime Association shut down ports on the West Coast late Friday afternoon, following a unanimous vote by the PMA Board of Directors.

"The PMA Board regrets that union-initiated slowdowns made this decision necessary. The PMA plans to reopen the terminals Sunday [Sept. 29] at 8 a.m.," a PMA statement said.

"The PMA walked out of negotiations this afternoon after its CEO Joseph Miniace launched into a tirade, attacking the union as an institution and saying he doesn't want to deal with it anymore," the ILWU responded in a statement later on Friday.

Spokesmen for the PMA and the ILWU declined to speak with AS+ after the PMA's announcement closing the ports, having nothing to say beyond their official statements.

The PMA cited "work slowdowns, beginning with Thursday night's shift and extending to Friday morning's shift. In some cases, the ILWU work actions have ground operations to a halt. In other cases, productivity has plummeted 25 percent to 90 percent, causing ships to miss their sail times, disrupting rail schedules, and leaving valuable cargo idle on the dock."

"These actions directly followed a resolution from ILWU headquarters ordering these strike-with-pay actions," the PMA said.

Sources outside the PMA and ILWU confirmed that work had slowed Thursday night.

The ILWU strongly denied that any resolution had been issued ordering job actions. The union's negotiating committee on Thursday asked "all longshore workers" to stop "any unsafe practices...and work safely in strict accordance with provisions of the Pacific Coast Marine Safety Code."

James Spinosa, president of the ILWU, said on Friday that "PMA's slanderous allegations of slowdowns during the biggest speedup in ILWU history, which coincides with a record number of on-the-job deaths, is literally adding insult to injury."

"Miniace is working to insure that as many ILWU jobs as possible will be eliminated through outsourcing," the union said.

The PMA called the shutdown "to divert attention from its rejection of the ILWU's technology proposal," a ILWU statement said.

In the union's view, the ILWU "made proposals for new computer technology that employers have been saying for three years was their top priority, but the PMA refused to guarantee that the remaining jobs and all the new jobs created by the new technology would be ILWU jobs."

The PMA charged that "the Union, dissatisfied with the course of contract negotiations", has resorted to using slowdown tactics to inflict economic pain on the shipping companies as a means of gaining leverage in negotiations.

What happens now? "The PMA is prepared to resume normal operations Sunday and will keep the terminals open as long as the ILWU abides by prior arbitration rulings and contractually required flex hours and extended shifts. The Union must also cease from sabotaging equipment," the PMA said in a statement.

"The ILWU is prepared to go back to the table and seek a negotiated settlement," the union said in a statement.

A number of worried shippers and ocean carriers, reached Friday evening, doubted that the closure of the ports would end when the PMA said. "Both sides are in a box now," said one source. "You'd like to think that moves are being planned in advance, as during chess. My fear is that they are both feeling their way, and that's going to mean a nasty few weeks ahead for shippers unless one or the other blinks."